Body pulled from Murderer's Gulch

SONORA - The body of a shooting victim pulled from a pickup in Murderer's Gulch this week may be that of a 29-year-old Wallace man, and a San Andreas man has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

Dana M. Nichols

SONORA - The body of a shooting victim pulled from a pickup in Murderer's Gulch this week may be that of a 29-year-old Wallace man, and a San Andreas man has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

Tuolumne County investigators believe the dead man is Jon Steven Flaherty but have not positively identified the remains. The pickup belongs to Flaherty's sister, Uta Christina Flaherty of San Andreas, and she had given her brother permission to use it over the weekend.

An autopsy Wednesday confirmed that the man had been shot to death.

The case began on Saturday, when deputies were sent to the intersection of Wards Ferry Road and Old Wards Ferry Road on a report of a woman screaming and a person being shot. They arrived on the scene to find signs of a struggle, but no one was there. Investigators say witnesses told them a shooting victim may have been placed in a pickup and driven away.

Deputies searched for the truck through the night and found it early Sunday morning down an embankment along Deer Creek some miles to the south. On Sunday afternoon, they arrested David Roy Stanton, 39, of San Andreas on suspicion he was responsible for the shooting. Stanton is being held in the Tuolumne County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

On Monday, investigators pulled the red and white 1987 Ford Ranger pickup out of Murderer's Gulch. That same day, they also arrested Shawna Stanton, 31, of Sonora, the sister of David Stanton, on suspicion she helped her brother with the killing.

It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that cadaver dogs led searchers to a concealed body not far from where the truck was found.